


Carry On (For You)

by hahahaharlequin



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Class 3-E as students, Established Relationship, Future Fic, Gen, M/M, Mentioned Generation of Miracles, Minor BokuSuga in the background, Reunions, but only some of them are mentioned sorry, like small appearances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:47:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hahahaharlequin/pseuds/hahahaharlequin
Summary: KNB Secret Santa Event, 20205 times Tetsuya missed Seijuurou,+1 time he didn’t have to———I miss your footprints next to mine,Your heartbeat matching with me in timeIf I could go back in time, I wouldBut I can’t, so I’ll just carry on for you.
Relationships: Akashi Seijuurou/Kuroko Tetsuya
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	Carry On (For You)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my gift for Anna! 
> 
> Happy Christmas, and I am _so_ sorry for the delay,, I hope you like this!! 💖

**[5]**

For all it was worth, Tetsuya had never been, nor had he claimed he were, a pro in the kitchen. Back when he'd been roommates with Midorima, the taller would wave Tetsuya out of the kitchen whenever he'd tried to help.

That was okay. Tetsuya didn't mind it, really, he actually was thankful that despite Midorima's crude humor and straight-forwardness, he still managed to lay Tetsuya's… _shortcomings_ in the kitchen without coming on too harshly. And to add to that, Tetsuya really enjoyed Midorima's home-cooked meals a lot, especially since the Pre-Med student would make sure their meals were balanced, and healthy.

Ever since Kagami's departure for the States (after which came Aomine's announcement of going to the States himself, for some _very obvious reason_ that he himself had yet to come to the conclusion to), Tetsuya had to bid Kagami's _godly_ cooking farewell. 

After graduating college, Tetsuya and Midorima had gone their separate ways— Tetsuya had applied at a primary school between his house and Seirin, while Midorima had gone to a different university to further his Med studies. Now that he moved back home, his parents were ever busy with work, despite their child already a working individual, so he spent most of his time at home with his grandmother, who had gotten older over the years, and not as quick on her feet as she used to be. In spite of his lack of skills in the kitchen, he was able to convince his grandmother that she need not wake up early every morning to prepare some breakfast and lunch for him. 

The elation on her face replaced the worry, and Tetsuya would rather eat convenience store food for the rest of his life, than have his elderly grandmother fuss over him.

Which leads to his situation now:

It was lunch time at Kunugigaoka Elementary School, and the teachers were encouraged to have their lunch together with their students. It was a fun practice, and oftentimes, the kids wouldn't even dare approach their teachers on the rare times they weren't hovering around the kids. 

One of his co-teachers, his senior by two years, Sugawara Koushi, was a young man with a "refreshing" sort of vibe to him. Tetsuya often found the man a sight for sore eyes, despite the corny jokes and harmless pranks he would pull every now and then. 

"What're you having for lunch, Tetsu-sensei?" He asked, then flashed Tetsuya a nice smile. Despite his nice intentions, Tetsuya can see his warm, brown eyes sparkle with mischief, as if a predator would anticipate its prey to fall for his trap. Sighing, Tetsuya put down his fork, which he had been using to push his food around, instead of eating.

"Just spaghetti, Suga-sensei," he replied, playing along. Cold, _leftover_ spaghetti, he wanted to tell him, but that would only make him feel even more lonely. "Have you had yours yet, Sugawara-san?" 

He made a move to the side so his co-teacher could sit beside him. "Yup! I had curry bread," he crossed his legs as he said so, leaning back relaxedly. "You must not like spaghetti, if you're playing with your food, despite having just told some of the kids to not to." He pointed out, and Tetsuya had the gall to look affronted, even if he _had_ just been doing that. 

He recalled having his partner, _Sei-san,_ split his plate with him every time he hadn't the appetite to finish his food. It was Sei-san's triumphant attempt at making Tetsuya gain a little more weight. 

_"I only wish that you ate a little more, Tetsuya. And I wanted to tell Midorima-kun that you're eating well— you know how he gets when he worries over his friends."_ He told Tetsuya long ago, and recalling it only made Tetsuya feel more melancholic, sighing at the memory of Sei-san's face, and how smooth and fond his voice had sounded when they had gone back to Sei-san's penthouse apartment after a small get-together just before Aomine had left to try out for the NBA.

"Not really, since it has gotten cold already." Tetsuya could only smile weakly, as he closed his bento box. Sugawara-sensei looked like he was about to say something, but held himself back, and got up from the bench. 

Maybe he felt Tetsuya's unease with the topic, and left it at that. 

Tetsuya would have to treat his co-teacher to a drink, after he found two packs of milk bread on his desk later when he went to the faculty room to retrieve some books for his next class.

* * *

**[4]**

It was a Thursday, and the school's scheduled _Road Safety_ lecture day, when they would invite some police officers to give a talk for the children about looking both ways before crossing the road, wearing seatbelts every time they ride the car, waiting patiently behind the floor signs at train stations, and the like. 

They managed to invite three officers, two from Tokyo, and the last one came all the way from Sendai; all three are good friends of two of his co-teachers.

Officers Yamazaki Sousuke and Matsuoka Rin attended the same school, and used to swim competitively in high school, against the P.E. teacher, Tachibana-sensei's high school. Officer Yamazaki, _("Please, just call me Sousuke.")_ and Tachibana-sensei both towered over Officer Matsuoka _("You can just call him Rin, don't worry, he won't mind, Kuroko-sensei!")_ but their overall friendliness overcame the intimidation factor. 

The other one, Officer Sawamura, had been Suga-sensei's volleyball team captain back in high school, and they were childhood friends, which explains how the teacher had been able to convince the man to travel all the way from Sendai just to give some kids a lecture about road safety. 

Sawamura-san was really nice, and very tolerating of Suga-sensei's jokes, and occasional jabs, which showed just how close they were. 

Tetsuya felt a bit down, thinking how he could have invited Aomine too, but seeing as he was currently living his dream of playing for the NBA, he couldn't hold it against his friend. Thinking of his former teammates, both from Teiko and Seirin just made him miss them more, Sei-san even more so.

The last time Tetsuya saw him was at the farewell party for Aomine, but even then, it had just been a Skype call, as he had been quite occupied with his work. 

"Kuroko-sensei, want to join us for some drinks? Oh, wait, you don't _have_ to drink, if you don't want to, but you can come along just to chat, if you want?" Sawamura-san emanated his captain-ly vibes throughout the day, and Tetsuya could feel himself relax at the familiarity of having the team captain look over him. 

Well, both he and Sousuke-san both gave Tetsuya _"mom friend"_ vibes, like he was talking with Midorima, instead. 

That evening had been fun, sharing stories from the school, and hearing about how his co-teachers had been back in high school— much to the expense of Sugawara-san— like it all seemed so long ago, and not a little over five years. 

_Five years, huh?_

Did distance _really_ make the heart fond? Or does it only wear down the two parties involved?

* * *

**[3]**

Weekends were every functioning adult's get-away and rest day from work, but it isn't so unusual to work on their days off as well. 

Tetsuya was just about to put his, and his family's used dishes away when someone at the door had started ringing the doorbell incessantly. He was glad his grandmother had gone for a check-up, accompanied by his parents, and weren't around to get annoyed at whomever had apparently no respect for—

_"Tetsuuuuu!_ Open up!" Came the muffled voice of Sugawara-san from the other side of the door. And if he listened closely, he could hear Tachibana-san cajoling the other to _at least_ stop ringing the doorbell. As to not further stress out the perpetually calm, and ever nice Tachibana-san, he _reluctantly!_ opened the door to let his co-teachers come barreling in. Tachibana-san had his arms full with paper bags of Maji Burger take-out, while Suga-san had thrown his tote bag somewhere over the couch. 

_"Man,_ it took us forever to get here, and the burgers smelled _so good_ but Mako-chan over here stopped me every time I tried to reach in for one, so I _hope_ we can eat first, before we start going over the camping details." 

Only mumbling a pardon, Suga-san had toed off his shoes already, and went in, straight to the kitchen, but not before plucking the bag of take-out out of Tachibana's hands, who could only whimper at the pace their co-teacher was going at. 

"I am _so_ sorry about him, Tetsu-kun, I tried to stop him, but he came over to my apartment this morning, and _insisted,_ and I just couldn't get him to calm down since coming up with the idea of coming over on such short notice," Tachibana-san apologised as he arranged Suga-san's shoes, before removing his own, and placing them neatly beside it.

Tetsuya could only nod understandingly, knowing well just _how_ excitable Suga-san could get once he made up his mind, despite the nice smiles and pleasing personality he possessed. 

Once inside, they found Suga-san already halfway through a cheeseburger, with a balled-up wrapper not too far from the bag. He also somehow found the still steaming hot tea from earlier, and served himself, and two other cups. 

"Hope you don't mind me serving us tea, Tetsu," he said, gesturing towards the other cups. Sharing a look of exasperation, Tetsuya and Tachibana-san took their places and sat across Sugawara. Tetsuya found it _fascinating_ just how easily these two men have wormed their way inside Tetsuya's heart… and his home, and just became close friends with them. 

He recalled his Teiko team, and how his parents would sometimes ask him about them, and became worried for Sei-san, once they found out the pressure he was facing back home. His parents would often allow his Teiko teammates to stay the night on weekends, and weekdays too, if they all agreed to help Tetsuya with his homework, which Midorima and Sei-san both readily agreed to. The others? Well, they enjoyed chatting with Tetsuya's grandmother, Aomine and Kise, who were both Tetsuya's self-proclaimed best friends. Murasakibara would gravitate towards the kitchen and help Tetsuya's mother out with the cooking (and to sneak some free samples in). 

_"Heyo! Earth to Tetsu, do you copy?"_

Tetsuya snapped back into the present, and out of his reminiscing at the sound of fingers _snapping_ in his face. "We're in the middle of room assignments, Tetsu, and if you don't pay attention, I'm gonna put your precious _Nagisa-kun_ in a room with a pack of wolves, or something," Suga-san teased, but Tetsuya _always_ fell for the same tricks. 

"Are you _really,_ sure _sure_ that Nagisa-kun ain't your kid, or something? I mean, with the hair and the eyes, and the _everything else,_ I wouldn't even be surprised if you came out and pulled up his birth certificate, or whatever," Suga added, and Tetsuya could only snort before he could stop himself from outing himself. 

"Sugawara-san, I am not related to Nagisa-kun, nor am I his parent, we've talked about this," Tetsuya could only chuckle, despite the tired sigh that left him, "I'm _gay,_ Suga-san," he concluded, absorbing the stunned silence that greets him. 

It only took a few seconds of silence before his co-teachers broke out into cheers. 

Tachibana-san was giving him gentle pats on the back, whereas Sugawara had taken to ruffling Tetsuya's hair. 

"I'm happy that you trust me an' Mako-chan enough to share this part about you, but Tetsu, I swear to god if you zone out again, I _will_ put Nagisa-kun in a room with Itona-kun and his friends." 

And Tetsuya had to bid memories of his old teammates and Sei-san goodbye for a bit, as they went and discussed room assignments for the kids' upcoming trip next week.

* * *

**[2]**

"Kuroo, you _bastard_ get back here!" 

Tetsuya looked out his classroom window to find Suga-sensei running after a man in a suit, and messy black hair running across the field, waving what looked like a smartphone with an ongoing call in the air above his head. His class was currently doing some writing drills, but upon hearing one of their teachers' yelling outside, they couldn't help looking out as well. 

"Finish your drills, everyone, while I tell Suga-sensei to _be quiet,"_ Tetsuya announced with one of his most serious expressions. His class could only groan, before responding appropriately. 

He'd just stepped out onto the field, and met Tachibana-san, who was talking with three people of varying heights and… temperament. His co-teacher noticed him, and waved him over, so Tetsuya complied, and walked towards them.

"I'm not sure what you're doing out during class hours, Kuroko-sensei, but I'm guessing it's because of Suga-sensei?" Tachibana-san inquired, but he was right on the mark, so Tetsuya only nodded in reply. 

"Makes sense," he muttered, sighing. "Oh, these guys are friends of Suga-sensei," he explained, gesturing at the three strangers with them. 

The strangers, regarding their different heights, it seemed their personalities were different as well. The tallest one had a stern expression on his face, but bowed politely, which Tetsuya couldn't help but reciprocate. The well-built one with dark hair, and the same stern expression, but his face sported a small, somewhat confused pout, had nodded towards him, and mumbled a low _"Hullo,"_ before turning away, and the tips of his ears a tad bit redder than the hoodie he was wearing. The shortest of the three had wide, expressive eyes, and yelled his greeting, along with his indignant _"I'm not friends with that guy but we_ **_did_ ** _beat his team back then,"_ and earned him the dark haired man's nudging at the side, and a hissed out _"Hoshiumi-san,_ **_shut up."_ **

The whole interactive experience with the three of them was a new one, but not as foreign, since it reminded him of the time Kise had snuck in, and decided to visit (read: _bother)_ Tetsuya at work. He then explained how Tetsuya was the only one he could visit so casually, since their other friends either were in professions that he couldn't risk disturbing, e.g. Midorima at the hospital, or they worked outside Tokyo.

Tetsuya had then been thankful for the intervention, but had to send him away when the students had caught wind of the model's sudden appearance at their school. 

Before leaving, though, Tetsuya had the gall to tell his friend that he was just a call away, in case he felt lonely, or needed someone to talk to. 

The _audacity,_ he thought to himself later, to give such advice to his friend. But he could hear the faint voice of Sei-san telling him, _"no one should use their own advice, Tetsuya, they must be imparted with others instead."_ So he acquiesced, and decided to run after Suga-sensei and his other friend. 

(Tetsuya, despite his low stamina, was able to catch up to Suga-sensei's friend, steal the phone from his hand, and pass it deftly, _directly_ into one of Suga-sensei's open hands.

_"I used to play basketball,"_ was all he said when they'd asked about the skill.

He smiled to himself at the memory of _just who_ had inspired him to master said skill, as the visitors gawk at him, and his co-teachers stare after him with pride and respect.)

* * *

**[1]**

It was the school festival when the former Generation of Miracles, plus Momoi-san, sans Aomine, Kagami, and Sei-san, all decided to make their appearance. 

Momoi and Kise had been the most ecstatic, while Murasakibara had gone straight towards the food stalls the moment they stepped into school grounds. Midorima, like the "mum friend" he was, decided to tail Tetsuya the moment he'd seen him, talking his ears off about how he looked much skinnier than he used to, how his hair seemed to have gotten longer, blah blah blah.

For someone who claimed their star signs contradicted, and weren't a great match with Tetsuya's, Midorima sure _loved_ to coddle and parent him. It was often a topic to poke fun at, but Midorima held his head high, and moved on to mother-hen another friend instead. 

"Your friends are quite _cute,_ Tetsu-kun," he heard Sugawara-san whisper close to Tetsuya's ear. He could only dodge, and hit the elder weakly. "So," he added, "which one's your boyfriend? Is it the glasses one? He's cute, but in a _reminds-me-of-one-of-my-kouhai_ cute, y'know?" 

He almost dropped the object he was holding-- Tomohito-kun's signed baseball-- when he was approached. He had just been arranging the kids' favourite things (they all decided on putting on a gallery of their favourite things), so he didn't mean to, if he ever did, he didn't mean it, but Tetsuya frowned at the implication of him and Midorima dating. His face contorted into what seemed like someone's face after they'd sucked on a lemon prepared by his high school team coach. 

"Um, _no?_ I mean, Midorima-kun and I are _very not_ dating. And, well, my _partner_ is um, my partner is busy with work, so he couldn't come along." Tetsuya answered, though the weird taste in his mouth left by the assumption that he was _dating_ his old friend, and college roommate, had yet to go away. He'd gladly eat any of Momoi-san's cooking if the need to recalibrate his palate arose.

Grimacing at the _'woe is me!'_ expression the teacher across him was making, he managed to blend in with the crowd, hopeful that could escape any more odd questions about his personal life and his friends. 

After all those years of becoming stagnant, and decided to focus on his studies and making lesson plans, foregoing playing basketball on his downtime, and instead catching up on his sleep, his "invisibility" had gone rusty, and neither had he been paying attention to his surroundings much, that he only noticed the persons in front of him when he fell at the impact of bumping into them.

"Kuro-chin, there you are! We've been looking _everywhere_ for you, and I mean _everywhere_ because I'm down to my last bag of chips now," strong hands pull him up to his feet as if he were but a rag doll. In front of him were Midorima and Murasakibara; the former looked irate, while the latter was pouting, all the while shoving more potato chips in his mouth.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Murasakibara, that you shouldn't eat chips, _especially_ before you've had your lunch? And that you shouldn't eat while you walk, otherwise you might bump into someone, which just so happens to be the case at hand!" Midorima was in the middle of his rant when Murasakibara pulled out his phone to show the screen to Tetsuya.

"Aka-chin said you weren't answering your phone, so he asked us to go look for you, and tell you to call him," Murasakibara explained as he was chewing. 

_("Murasakibara! Don't talk when your mouth is full!"_

_Mido-chin, are you my mom?")_

Tetsuya, thankful for the gesture, for the effort his friends had put in, just so they could pass on a message from Sei-san. He smiled at them, thanking them for their hard work, and directed them towards his classroom to meet them all later.

But first, he had a phone call to make. 

* * *

**[+1]**

He had only been teaching for two years when Tetsuya experienced his first class' graduation. It was painful, sure, having to say goodbye to his students, but the pride and joy of watching the kids he'd taught overpowered the sombre emotions. And it was a pretty big event, with families and friends dropping by to visit. Sometimes, the teachers' friends would also come along to congratulate the teacher for their hard work—

Thinking back now, it was during his third year of teaching, around graduation season, when Tetsuya first met Suga-san's boyfriend who was on a break from playing, and came all the way from Osaka just to congratulate his boyfriend, and his class for graduating. 

Bokuto Koutarou-san was a professional volleyball player from the MSBY Black Jackals team, loud and energetic, and very proud and supportive of his boyfriend. 

Tetsuya smiled at the memory— _no longer a mere memory,_ when Bokuto-san came bounding into the gym wearing smart casual clothes, a bouquet of roses, and a megawatt smile. 

After his delayed recollection of the fact that Suga-san must still be backstage preparing with his class, he really shouldn't have been _that_ surprised when Bokuto-san had run over towards him, and enveloped him in a big hug. 

_"KUROKO!"_ He'd squawked delightfully, _directly_ into his ear. Tetsuya could only wince as the man swung him around like a child and their puppy. "Yes, hello, Bokuto-san. It's nice to see you again," Tetsuya managed to squeeze out the greeting, and _thank god!_ Bokuto-san decided to put him back down. 

"Kou-chan told me to come find you since they're still _so busy_ on the back!" He sounded disappointed at that, and really, if Tetsuya weren't thinking rationally, he'd have thought Bokuto-san's hair was sentient, and reacted to his emotions, seeing how the tips of his styled hair droop as he took note of Tetsuya's co-teacher's absence. 

"Sorry for hugging you too hard," he added, patting Tetsuya's arms and back, and head awkwardly, probably in his own attempt to fix Tetsuya's appearance. 

The warmth of Bokuto-san's hands were comforting, and nice, and he'd have revelled at the sensation, only to decline. Sei-san's hands were smaller, lighter, and much cooler to the touch compared to Bokuto-san's. 

He shook his head at the elder's apologies, but took one of his hands in his own. "It's fine, Bokuto-san. I'm always happy to be on the receiving end of your hugs," Tetsuya chuckled, seeing as how just one simple praise could alleviate Bokuto-san's mood. 

"Right?! I'm the _best_ hugger there is! I only do some weight-lifting so I can get better at giving hugs!" He'd announced, flexing his arms as he did so. Tetsuya could only laugh softly at the display, at how innocent and nice Bokuto-san was. 

He'd already forgotten the loneliness in his heart, until he caught a glimpse of red hair, and before he could rule out it _might_ have just been Karma-kun, the red-haired figure started getting closer, closer, and closer. As if they were walking towards Tetsuya.

 _It can't be-- but it_ **_could_ ** _be, knowing Sei-san and his theatrics._

The red hair is lost among the crowd, only emerging a couple seconds later, but this time, they were holding up a bouquet of flowers as well. Only, it was _bigger_ than Bokuto-san's, and given by his surprised squawking, he'd just lost the size game. 

And in that moment, red eyes met light blue.

  
  


"Why are you--"

"I'm home, Tetsuya. I missed you," Akashi Seijuro of the Akashi Corporation is standing before him, and offering him the _monstrous_ bouquet. 

"I missed you too, Sei-san, but what about--" 

"Not anymore, Tetsuya, not anymore. You don't have to miss me anymore because I'm moving to Tokyo. I want to live together with you, if you will have me?" 

The only thing that's tethering Tetsuya to the Living was Bokuto-san's gasps and exaggerated reactions to the whole thing unfolding before his eyes. Like primetime T.V. 

And despite the lack of audience, Bokuto-san was _loud,_ and Tetsuya didn't want any more numbers added to their spectators. 

_"SAY YES, KUROKO, SAY YEEEEESSS!"_ came Bokuto-san's enthusiastic support. Tetsuya glanced towards Sei-san with an apologetic expression, nodding towards Bokuto-san. _"He means no harm, he's a nice guy,"_ he'd told Sei-san, who only nodded understandingly. 

"Well, Tetsuya? Your friend and I are waiting for your answer," Sei-san urged. 

  
  


He took a step forward, "I will."   
  
And finally, _finally,_ he gets to walk alongside Sei-san again. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> // so basically, Tetsu convinced Sei to go back to, uh, Kyoto, to run Akashi Corp. for a while, until it can run by itself,,,


End file.
